MORTELLITO ‘VIARIA’ MOSCATO BIANCO TERRE SICILIANE

Mortellito is in Val di Noto, in a corner of Sicily that lies at the same latitudes as North Africa’s ariddesert climate. Its vineyards are a few kilometers from the coast, with grooves of ancient olive andalmonds trees breaking the wind off the sea; abandoned and still working fishing ports dot thelandscape. Owner Dario Serrentino has always enjoyed the contrasts of thiscoastal growing area, which he calls ‘a desert next to the beach.’ Overthe years, lucky for us, he’s learned to coax extremely elegant wines fromthis receding coast of limestone, which, he says, is ‘the magic to producewines with tension, freshness, and complex salinity.’ In Dario’s bestvintages, his rosso and bianco wines have a tapering svelte finish, cooland salt-dusted. Drinking them is akin to a dive into the nearby Ionian seaon a hot summer day.

Dario has always worked on the family farm in one form or another (hisheirloom almonds were actually his first love). He changed careers fromsocial worker and part-time farmer to full-time vignaiolo with his firstbottling in 2014. He works only with native grapes, including an herbalFrappato, and a spicy-sour bush vine Nero d’Avola. His whites areacid-driven and aspirin-chalky in texture: the Grillo often has a nose ofgrilled nuts and citrus rinds, while the Moscatella di Noto is floral andherbal (la sua morte, ‘it’s death,’ as the Italians like to say, is a pairing withraw fish crudo).

There’s never been any chemical interventions in the vineyards, and there’san intentional hands-off approach in the cellar, with a minimum of sulphuradded at bottling. Avoiding the entrapments of the glou-glou oroverwrought luxury style, Dario is part of a very small contingent ofproducers in Sicily producing fine and natural wines, or as Dario poeticallylikes to say: mare e terra in vino.________________________________________REGION: Sicilia GROWING AREA: Val di Noto FARMING: Certified OrganicBioagricert ITBIO007B05H VINEYARD: 2.5 Ha ALTITUDE: from 40 m / 131 ftSOILS: medium texture limestone VARIETIES: 100% Moscatella di Noto VINEAGE: 5 years old VINE TRAINING: alberello (bush vines) HARVEST DATE:beginning of September YEASTS: Native FERMENTATION & ÉLEVAGE: 2days on the skins and after a racking it’s left for another 25 days without anytemperature control. Élevage for 6 months in stainless steel tanks.MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION: Yes SULPHUR: 10 mg/l added duringfermentation; 20 mg/l at bottling ALCOHOL: 12% ANNUAL PRODUCTION:600 cases

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